Honorable Union of Ixania
The Honorable Union of Ixania, or just Ixania, is a large island nation located near the center of the Atlantic Ocean, strategic located between Africa, Europe, North America, and South America. Ixania itself consists of 23 islands of varying size and population, all of whom are apart of the Honorale Union. The country has a land area of 373,633.93 km² (232,165.36 sq mi), and a population of 142.1 million people. Ixania was initially colonized in 18 April 337 BC by the Celts from Gaul (modern day France, and the Zande from Ethiopia, both led across vast distances by men claiming to be prophets sent to lead them to a new and prosperous land in the middle of the sea. Thus, two land-based cultures migrated through hostile lands and then into the uncharted oceans for a promised land never documented or mentioned in the past. During the times following their settling on the main island, the two fought a violent conflict known as the Seven Centuries' War, resulting in millions of deaths, ravaging of the landscape, and the adoption and embrace of hatred and evil as an inescapable and acceptable part of human life. This resulted in the creation of the culture Ixanians are imfamous for today. Ixania is an absolute constitutional monarchy under the rulership of Emperor N/A. History Main article: History of Ixania Category:Honorable Union of Ixania Military Main article: Imperial Guard of Ixania The Imperial Guard of Ixania (IGI) is the official military force of Ixania. With a force of 1.7 military personnel within its ranks, the Imperial Guard is the second-largest standing army on earth. Under the oversight of the Imperial War Committee, the IGI is divided into five branches: the Imperial Ixanian Army (IIA), the Imperial Ixanian Navy (IIN), the Imperial Ixanian Air Force (IIAF), the Imperial Ixanian Marine Corps (IIMC), and the Imperial Strategic Rocket Corps (ISRC). The Ixanian military budget was last shown to be $121.3 billion (₳ trillion), the third-largst military budget in the world. Howver, many governmentsn such as those of the United States, Britain, France, and Brazil believe the real number to be far higher given Ixania's violent past and lack of transparency. As a recognized nuclear arms state, Ixania is considered a dangerous regional power, and a potential military superpower. As of 2012, Ixania is believed to posses some 190 nuclear weapons, of which 45 are ICBMs. Nevertheless, given its all-powerful geopolitical location in the world, right between four important continents, the most frequently traveled ocean on earth, and location next to the current superpower–who is within clear reach of Ixanian ICBMs, the United States, Brazil, and the European Union have agreed that appeasement is an important tactic to keep Ixania docile and contained. As Ixania possesses few military relationships abroad, Iran, Russia, and North Korea being rare examples of working alliances, Ixania is considerably easy to isolate diplomatically. Ixanian's long history of war at home and abroad has permitted it the ability to build and improve many past and current military technologies. Aided by a fully indigenous arms industry, for which has allowed Ixania to produce modern fighters, main battle tanks, warships, and long-range missiles, the IGI has maintained a fully modern force throughout the majority of its history as a military organization. Ixania has recently been engaged in expanding its extensive fleet of stealth fighters, being one of only two nations, the other being the United States, with a force of combat-ready multi-role stealth fighters. Ixania hopes to replace many aging vehicles, weapons, and equipment with more modern versions by 2015. The IGI maintains a large number of indigenously produced missiles as one of its first lines of defense against an invasion. This is followed by the Imperial Navy, one of only five blue-water navies in the world. The navy possessed five aircraft carriers as of 2012, of which three are deployed on missions around the globe at all times. The IIN is further strengthened by its fleet ten amphibious assault ships and thirdteen amphibious transport docks, which have been the greatest contributing factor to the nation's ability to project its power overseas, as well as its stunning response times. The Imperial Guard's manpower is drawn from the dangerous and hyper-violent streets of the nation's largest cities. These men and women are physically-fit and more often than not, mentally-unstable, and extremely patriotic for their country. With a highly motivated and morally-bankrupt military force, Ixania's troops have committed some of the worst atrocities seen since World War II. Thus, territories under Ixanian occupation are quickly depopulated by the IGI and its supression tactics, which have drawn the attention of the international community toward the Ixanian military's atrocious human rights records. Economy Main article: Economy of Ixania Ixania has a large market economy, fueled by the country's vast industrial base and mineral reserves, as well as plentiful skilled manpower. According to the World Bank Organization, Ixania's national GDP stood at $7.257 trillion, while its GDP per capita was $51,051. Ixania's Power Purchasing Parity, or PPP, was $6.813 trillion, and GDP per capita $47,930. Both the national and PPP GDP of Ixania were ranked third behind the United States and China. Because of strict economic sanctions following the Second World War against Ixania because of its citizens' habits and culture, Ixania has been forced to rely solely upon locally produced goods and wares. The country's enormous raw mineral supply, described by National Geographics' as "unnaturally bountiful", have prevented the country's industrial capacity and economic growth from either crashing or slowing. The Platinum Mountains of Ixara, a part of the Zanxi Mountains, contain the richest strain of platinum reserves anywhere on earth, with Ixania providing so much of it that it became the standard for the Ixanian currency. Iron ore, gold, silver, mercury, copper, tin, natural gas, and petroleum are located in unusually large quantities on Ixania, and have provided the nation with much of its wealth. However, the service industry is the country's money maker, accounting for 43.7% of the national economy. The city of Ravaxa is noted for being Ixania's premier banking center, and one of the largest and most important in the world despite the sanctions against Ixania. The industrial sector of the economy is a giant, accounting for 38.3% of the gross income and employment in the nation. Heavy industrialization of Ixania in the 1840s and 1850s to reduce reliance and pressure from Britain, France, and the United States was the contributing factor to such growth. The Ixanian economy has been growing exponentially over the decades, with an annual rate of 7.4% in 2009. It is expected to continue such growth at a rate of 9.8% between 2012 and 2020. This is do to the extensive local growth of the economy as the resources of Ixania are used to expand and diversify the country's already extensive economy. Ixania possesses a labor force of 91.7 million. Of these, 6.4 million of them were slaves. This coincides with Ixania's long-standing view of poverty and homelessness. These slaves are the total sum of Ixania's impoverished population, which in Ixanian culture and law, are put to work as indentured servants of the state for the remainder of their lives. This is yet another reason so many sanctions have been placed on the empire.